Lab owner gives advice on getting tested for antibodies, COVID-19

The FDA fast-tracked the approval for hundreds of COVID-19 and antibody tests to get them to the public as quickly as possible.

WINK News reporter Morgan Rynor got tested and explains what the process is like.

“What I’m going to do is I’m going to poke your finger and I’m going to fill up this container.”

In less than a second, the hard part was over. The small vile of Morgan’s blood is first put into a machine to mix around and then put into a larger one, where it gets mixed with an agent to see if antibodies show up.

While the machine got to work, MyTest Diagnostics owner Sabine Mueller answered some questions.

The test she trusts most is called SARS-CoV-2 Total Antibody from Roche Diagnostics. It supplies millions of tests around the world.

“It’s 99.8 percent accurate. I’m very impressed with their study that they have done,” Mueller said.

Some other tests repeatedly show false negatives, she said. “So that’s very scary.”

If you’re getting tested for COVID-19, here is her advice. “How was the collection? If someone gets a nasal and they say ‘oh, I hardly felt it,’ then most likely it’s coming back negative because it hasn’t been done.

“You have to have the swab for at least 30 seconds in the area.”

If you think you’ve been exposed to someone who is positive, wait at least five days to get tested for the virus and longer for antibodies.

“As long as people have developed the antibodies, it means they have prior exposure but they should still be very protective. I always tell them not to let their guards down because there might be a second infection coming on.”

After 30 minutes, Morgan’s test came back negative.

While there’s still no definitive proof of whether the presence of antibodies means you can’t get the virus again, Mueller said it’s a positive sign that plasma from patients who have had the virus can help current patients.